As severe natural disasters have become more frequent in coastal areas of Bangladesh sustainable embankment management has appeared as the need of the hour. Experts came up with this remarks in a seminar entitled 'Climate Resilient Coastal Embankment and Participatory Management' organized by the Coast Trust Bangladesh held at the capital's Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) auditorium.
According to the German Watch Climate Risk Index, Bangladesh is the seventh most climate vulnerable country in the world. Nearly, 13 percent of coastal land by 2080 will be submerged due to sea level rise. Speakers at the seminar urged to enhance participatory embankment construction with collaboration of local authorities.
Mamunur Rashid secretary of Bhola Zila Climate Risk Resistance Group said, “In the last decade, the government has not allocated enough money to meet the climate change impasse and the budget for the construction of coastal embankments has not been effectively planned.”
Proper planning, accountability, and remodelling of embankments can solve the problem in the coastal area, he added. He also mentioned that, because of the donor dependent budget, it has not been possible to construct and manage the dams. The Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) is the sole responsible authority for coastal embankments. However, this organisation is hardly aligned with the existing demand addressing climate change.
Country’s total embankment length is 16,261 Km and Costal Embankment is 5,757 Km (BWDB). Most of the embankments were built in the 60s. Because of climate change there was 3 percent GDP's loss and 5 percent poverty increase to Cyclone SIDR in 2007 (UN SIDR early recovery plan). Embankments were severely damaged and accounted for about TK 2500 core loss for Ayla.
Badrul Alam, Krishak Federation Samity Secretary, said, Budget should be allocated directly to district, upazila and even union level. Therefore, those local authorities will be able to take immediate decision and work for implementation. In Bangladesh some 35 per cent of the population lives on the coasts, and according to government estimates, the number of vulnerable population is around 20 million. Disaster Management Expert Ruhul Amin said, we have to ensure necessary budget allocation from the government to fix the needs of the people. Adequate budgetary allocations need to be ensured, especially in the infrastructure sector. Only then, construction of a climate-tolerant sustainable coastal dam may be possible, he added.
He further mentioned that, adequate measures have to be taken to increase the capacity of the rivers by dredging them; also digging old canals and building new canals can be effective. Steps must be taken to increase the navigability of river estuaries and important rivers by dredging them as much as possible.
Construction and management of the embankment, in the case of the officers, the employees have to be involved with more advanced technology. Various meeting, seminars, campaigns and other awareness programmes on climate change and construction should be organized, speakers opined at the seminar.
